Categorie: Chris

Corporations motivated by insatiable greed endanger us all and must be stopped before it’s too late, veteran journalist Chris Hedges told RT, warning that future generations will suffer immeasurably unless action is taken now.

Appearing on George Galloway’s political talk show ‘Sputnik’, Hedges decried how the “psychopaths” who run the world’s largest multinational corporations are “hurling us all over a cliff” in the pursuit of “short-term profit.”

We’re going to talk about the destruction of the ecosystem that sustains life. And [that’s] what is happening in the hands of the oligarchic elites in the fossil fuel industry – and let’s not forget the defense industry, the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses is the US military.

Asked by Galloway if their grandchildren will “have a world to live in,” Hedges offered a grim assessment:

“Not unless we – and I don’t use this word lightly – overthrow corporate power. Otherwise it’s very clear that these people will kill us.”

In my last piece for LewRockwell.com, entitled “The Quality of Mercy”, I discussed the excellent interview with UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer recently posted by RT on their program Going Underground. On 8 June 2019 Chris Hedges conducted a new, comprehensive, and powerful interview also with Nils Melzer, an interview that I feel is worth watching for all those concerned about the current state of Julian Assange, and the actions of the governments persecuting him.

Dr. Melzer states in the beginning regarding the health of Julian that, “what we’re talking about is severe traumatization, chronic anxiety, intense constant stress, inability to relax, to focus, to think in a structured straight line…someone in a hyper-stimulated state.”

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In response to Mr. Hedges question, “What are both the physical and psychological short-term and long-term effects and what do you attribute that psychological torture to? Because you have really pinned the blame on four different governments,” Dr. Melzer replied, “Obviously, psychological torture can have various consequences. It’s difficult to predict exactly how the situation will evolve. What we’ve seen now, during my visit, was already alarming. And what we have seen since then [is] that his state of health has rapidly deteriorated, as predicted by the psychiatrist accompanying my visit. What can happen obviously on the prolongation of this is that we’ll have irreversible damage, even on the physical level; first, on the psychological-emotional level, but then also on the physical level it can lead to nervous breakdowns or even actually then to cardiovascular damage that is no longer reversible. But it’s very difficult to predict with accuracy and I’m not myself a doctor. But we see today Mr. Assange is no longer able to participate in his own court hearings.”

He then explains why he believes the four states he mentioned are responsible, starting with the attempt by “the elephant in the room,” the United States to get Mr. Assange extradited and to prosecute him: “Mr. Assange had a credible fear to be extradited to the U.S. and to be exposed to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment there.”

The arrest Thursday of Julian Assange eviscerates all pretense of the rule of law and the rights of a free press. The illegalities, embraced by the Ecuadorian, British and U.S. governments, in the seizure of Assange are ominous. They presage a world where the internal workings, abuses, corruption, lies and crimes, especially war crimes, carried out by corporate states and the global ruling elite will be masked from the public. They presage a world where those with the courage and integrity to expose the misuse of power will be hunted down, tortured, subjected to sham trials and given lifetime prison terms in solitary confinement.

They presage an Orwellian dystopia where news is replaced with propaganda, trivia and entertainment. The arrest of Assange, I fear, marks the official beginning of the corporate totalitarianism that will define our lives.

Under what law did Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno capriciously terminate Julian Assange’s rights of asylum as a political refugee? Under what law did Moreno authorize British police to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy—diplomatically sanctioned sovereign territory—to arrest a naturalized citizen of Ecuador? Under what law did Prime Minister Theresa May order the British police to grab Assange, who has never committed a crime? Under what law did President Donald Trump demand the extradition of Assange, who is not a U.S. citizen and whose news organization is not based in the United States?

I am sure government attorneys are skillfully doing what has become de rigueur for the corporate state, using specious legal arguments to eviscerate enshrined rights by judicial fiat. This is how we have the right to privacy with no privacy. This is how we have “free” elections funded by corporate money, covered by a compliant corporate media and under iron corporate control. This is how we have a legislative process in which corporate lobbyists write the legislation and corporate-indentured politicians vote it into law. This is how we have the right to due process with no due process. This is how we have a government—whose fundamental responsibility is to protect citizens—that orders and carries out the assassination of its own citizens such as the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and his 16-year-old son.

Futurist and economic researcher Chris Martenson says a collapse is “a process, not an event.”

Martenson contends the long awaited global collapse, on many fronts, has not only started, but is picking up speed. Martenson says,

“Our prediction at PeakProsperity.com is these collapse trends, we have been following for 10 years now, are accelerating and continuing. None of them are reversing at this point in time. These will impact people’s future in a huge way. Environmentally, we see these signs, but we also have $245 trillion of debt in the global economy. We have been accelerating that debt cycle as if we could just keep that trend going forever—we can’t. So, what we see are all these unsustainable trends converging. They are going to happen . . . and people need to be ready.”

Martenson lays out the case to blame central banks for much of the geopolitical and economic friction in the world today. Martenson says,

“The economic pie is not expanding anymore. It’s kind of stagnant. So, if you have one tiny group taking their fair share and the pie isn’t growing, it means they are taking from somebody else. This is the essence of central banking. They don’t create wealth, they redistribute wealth. When the Federal Reserve crams rates to zero, the savers lose out, but lose to who? The winners and losers are being picked by the central banks, and they have decided that the .01% should be the winners in this story and everybody else should be the losers…

Central bank policies have really benefited the elites at the expense of everybody else. This brings up the most important point and that is central banks are not our friends. They are redistributive organizations.”

Martenson also says, “Our view is if we get into a war that it will be so devastating, there really won’t be a recovery from it.” As for the elite, Martenson says,

“It’s time to panic. . . . They have thrown in the towel, they have caved and are ready to go back to the print-a-thon thing. That is concerning because the financial world can’t even manage stopping their bond purchases,

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The failure on the part of establishment media to defend Julian Assange, who has been trapped in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, has been denied communication with the outside world since March and appears to be facing imminent expulsion and arrest, is astonishing. The extradition of the publisher – the maniacal goal of the U.S. government – would set a legal precedent that would criminalize any journalistic oversight or investigation of the corporate state. It would turn leaks and whistleblowing into treason. It would shroud in total secrecy the actions of the ruling global elites.

If Assange is extradited to the United States and sentenced, The New York Times, The Washington Post and every other media organization, no matter how tepid their coverage of the corporate state, would be subject to the same draconian censorship. Under the precedent set, Donald Trump’s Supreme Court would enthusiastically uphold the arrest and imprisonment of any publisher, editor or reporter in the name of national security.

There are growing signs that the Ecuadorean government of Lenín Moreno is preparing to evict Assange and turn him over to British police. Moreno and his foreign minister, José Valencia, have confirmed they are in negotiations with the British government to “resolve” the fate of Assange. Moreno, who will visit Britain in a few weeks, calls Assange an “inherited problem” and “a stone in the shoe” and has referred to him as a “hacker.” It appears that under a Moreno government Assange is no longer welcome in Ecuador. His only hope now is safe passage to his native Australia or another country willing to give him asylum.

“Ecuador has been looking for a solution to this problem,” Valencia commented on television. “The refuge is not forever, you cannot expect it to last for years without us reviewing this situation, including because this violates the rights of the refugee.”

Moreno’s predecessor as president, Rafael Correa, who granted Assange asylum in the embassy and made him an Ecuadorean citizen last year, warned that Assange’s “days were numbered.” He charged that Moreno –